Seabiscuit and “Red” Pollard Comparison

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The life of a jockey and a horse. Both were determined and had the heart to race, but neither were given the chance. Until they met Charles Howard.

If you were to compare "Red" Pollard and Freud's theory you would see that a lot of what Freud says is true in the case of Red Pollard & Seabiscuit. Freud says that childhood experiences influence your adulthood. When Red was younger, his family had money until the Depression came. During the Depression, his family lost everything and had to live on the street. Red was 15 years old when he was sold to a man at a race track. He was taller than the average jockey, so that made it hard for him to become a jockey. He never could eat a lot, and had to throw up his food just to stay under 115 pounds. Freud's theory even relates to Seabiscuit in many ways.

Seabiscuit was taken away from his mother when he was just 6 months old because he looked different. His first owner thought he was lazy, so he would beat him hoping that would make him run faster. Since that didn't work, he was sold again. So now he was just trained to lose, so the other horses would build up their confidence.

There are even similarities in Alfred Adler's theory in both Red and Seabiscuit. Adler's theory is that you strive for superiority. Red Pollard strived for superiority ever since he was little. He would ride horses every chance he got. He trained himself to be the best jockey he could be. He would enter every race that he could. And he would do anything to race. Seabiscuit had the heart to race. All it would take is Seabiscuit looking his opponent in the eyes and that would just push him to win.

When both Red and Seabiscuit were young, they were both taken away from their mothers. Since they both had bad childhoods, they both in return had bad attitudes. They were always fighting with people. Neither one of them were accepted by the others. Red was too tall to be a jockey. Seabiscuit was too short to be a race horse. Neither one of them was able to show their true talent until they met Charles Howard. Charles Howard was the kindest person to them. He was the only one who really showed he cared. Tom Smith, who was Seabiscuit's trainer, was the first to notice how competitive Red and Seabiscuit were. Both of them had so much drive to win. There was one time when Red broke his leg and was told he would never ride again. Shortly after that, Seabiscuit injured his leg also. So, around the same time, they both had injured legs. That was not going to stop them. They were determined to race again. Everyone thought they would never race again, but they did and proved everyone wrong. That was just one obstacle they overcame together. Neither of them would ever give up. Sometimes they wanted to give up, but they kept going for each other. They were very close, so close that they almost knew the others next move. This is the true story of how a human and an animal can become best friends.